This Is Why The Body Of Moses Was Not Found - Why Did Satan Want Moses' Body?

God has chosen to withhold much information from us regarding the events leading up to Moses' passing. Moses ascended the heights of Mount Nebo while Israel camped out in the plains of Moab. From there he had a clear view of the entire promised land all the way to the coast of the western sea. Now Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, and the Negev, and the territory in the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. Deuteronomy chapter 34 verse 1 through 3 New American Standard Bible According to the scriptures, And the Lord showed him all the land. This was the manifestation of God's favor toward Moses. God gave him a glimpse of the promised land, even though it was impossible for him to set foot there. Moses gazed in the direction of the promised land while perched on the peak of Nebo, which is part of a mountain range known as Pisgah. This peak is located in what is now the modern nation of Jordan. God's last words to Moses Deuteronomy chapter 34 verse 4 Amplified Bible Then the Lord said to him, This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, I will give it to your descendants. I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there. We read, This is the land I swore to give you. These present tense words were spoken to Moses at the summit of Mount Nebo as he gazed westward and saw the promised land. The locations are listed in a large counterclockwise circle from north to south. Moses could see the entire promised land in this expansive view. The invitation to Moses to view the land was not merely a kindly provision of God to allow his servant to view Israel's inheritance. It may have had some legal significance. There is some evidence that this was part of a legal process. A man viewed what he was to possess. Thompson We read, I will give it to your descendants. God swore to give it to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob's descendants, and the promise was about to be fulfilled. Moses was permitted to lead the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob all the way to the promised land, but no further. We read, I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there. What a tense and tumultuous time! When Moses saw this, it filled his heart with joy because he now could see the promised land more clearly than ever before. Despite this, there was undeniably a feeling of regret in his heart, for he was well aware that it was his fault. The event occurred in, Numbers chapter 20, verse 7 through 12, Amplified Bible. And the Lord said to Moses, Take the rod and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to give forth its water, and you shall bring forth to them water out of the rock, so you shall give the congregation and their livestock drink. So Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron assembled the congregation before the rock, and Moses said to them, Hear now, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice, and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Because you did not believe in, rely on, cling to me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the Israelites, you therefore shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. God specifically instructed Moses to take the rod, but not to use it. When Moses spoke to the rock, God promised to provide water for Israel. God told Moses to strike the rock on Mount Sinai, and water poured forth. Exodus chapter 17 verse 6, God told Moses to only speak to the rock while holding the rod in his hand. Moses started by doing exactly what the Lord had instructed him to do. He took the rod and gathered the Israelites. God never told Moses to lecture the Israelites, especially in such a harsh and angry tone. There were times when Moses needed to be the bearer of God's wrath, but this was not one of them. It was terrible enough for Moses to lecture Israel. It was even worse for him to do so with an angry attitude filled with bitter contempt for them. When Israel had previously challenged Moses, he had reacted differently. When the people rebelled at Kadesh, Moses fell on his face before God. Moses cried out to the Lord, not the people at Merah. Moses confronted the people at Massah and Meribah, but without the anger, contempt, and bitterness seen here. There are numerous explanations for Moses' sinful reaction, but none are adequate. He was provoked, but his response was sinful, as described later in Psalm chapter 106 verse 32 through 33, New American Standard Bible. They also provoked into wrath at the waters of Meribah, so that it went badly for Moses on their account. Because they were rebellious against his spirit, he spoke rashly with his lips. Since Moses and Aaron appeared in front of the people, Moses addressed the people as if it were he and Aaron who would provide them with water rather than the Lord. Moses directly disobeyed God by striking the rock rather than speaking to it. He not only hit it, but he struck it twice, and he only had to strike the rock once at the beginning of the Exodus journey. Despite Moses' failures in both attitude and action, God still abundantly provided for the people. Perhaps Moses thought God was pleased and everything was okay because the water was successfully delivered. Because God loves his people so much, he uses imperfect instruments. The fact that God uses someone does not imply that the person is in the right relationship with God and is serving with God's heart. Moses committed an unholy act. He transformed God into an angry man or one of the moody pagan gods and did not represent God's heart and character in front of the people. God's reprimand to Moses was harsh. This great Israelite leader would not lead them into Canaan and someone else would finish the job. We might have assumed that he was exempt from the decree that all of the generation of the Exodus' age would perish in the wilderness. But no matter how great a leader he was, Moses was still a man subject to God and God's law. This may appear to be an unjust punishment for Moses, and he had to pass away just short of Canaan because of one seemingly minor error. But God held Moses to a higher standard because of his leadership position in the nation and his unusually close relationship with God. It is unjust to hold teachers and leaders to a perfect standard, but it is right to hold them to a higher standard. James chapter 3 verse 1, Do not become teachers in large numbers, my brothers, since you know that we who are teachers will incur a stricter judgment. Most importantly, Moses ruined a beautiful picture of Jesus' redemptive work through the rock which provided water in the wilderness. The New Testament makes it clear this water-providing and life-giving rock was a picture of Jesus. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 4, And all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them, and the rock was Christ. After being struck once, Jesus gave life to all who would drink of him. John chapter 7 verse 37, Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. But it was unjust for Jesus to be struck again because the Son of God only needed to suffer once. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 10 through 12, By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time. Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But he, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God. As Moses should have only used words of faith to bring life-giving water to the nation of Israel, Jesus can now be approached with words of faith. Romans chapter 10 verse 8 through 10, But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart. That is, the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. Moses ruined this picture of the work of Jesus God intended. At the end of it all, God was seen as holy among the children of Israel. Moses did not hallow God in this incident, but God hallowed himself through the correction of Moses. What drama, what pathos, what inward pain, what sense of accomplishment mixed with disappointment must have been in Moses' mind as he looked over the land the Lord had promised to Israel? Calend. Looking over the vast panorama, Moses saw the culmination of his life's work, leading the children of Israel into the promised land, and heard God say, as clearly as he had ever heard God speak, This is the land, the death and burial of Moses, the Lord's servant. Deuteronomy chapter 34, verse 5 through 8, Amplified Bible. So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Beth Peor. But no man knows where his burial place is to this day. Although Moses was 120 years old when he died, his eyesight was not dim, nor his natural strength abated. So the sons of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab for thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended. We read, So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab. Moses' epitaph, what we might call the line on his tombstone, though he actually had none, was simple. It had nothing to do with Moses, Prince of Egypt. It was not Moses, Egyptian murderer. It had nothing to do with Moses, shepherd in the wilderness. It was not Moses, national spokesman. It was not Moses, the miracle worker. It had nothing to do with Moses, prophet. It had nothing to do with Moses, the man who saw a piece of God's glory. It had nothing to do with Moses, who never entered the promised land. At the end of it all, the title was simple. Moses, the servant of the Lord. This should suffice for us. We often say it, and it sounds humble when we say it, but living it is more difficult. To be content with simply being the Lord's servant is a treasure, and it is the happiest station in life, because when the master is glorified, the servants are content. A simple test can reveal whether or not someone is truly a servant of the Lord. How they react when they are treated as a servant. Many are pleased to be servants for people of our own choosing, or in circumstances of our own choosing. But that is not being a We read that Moses, the Lord's servant, died. Moses died exactly as God had promised. God's promises are certain, including his more severe promises. Everything happened in accordance with the Lord's word. The phrase, according to the word of the Lord, literally means, from the Lord's mouth. And he buried him in a valley, we read. Notably, the Lord buried Moses. This was more complicated because the devil fought with God over Moses' body. Jude, chapter 9, describes an occasion when Michael, the archangel, was at odds with the devil over the body of Moses. It would appear that there was a dispute regarding the body of Moses, and Jude indicates that Michael, the archangel, triumphed in this conflict by appealing to the authority of the Lord, saying, The Lord rebuke you, in response to the other party. But it is not entirely clear why Michael fought Satan over the body of Moses in the first place. Some people believe that the devil intended to use the body of Moses as an object of worship to tempt Israel into engaging in idolatry. Moses and Elijah may be the two witnesses of Revelation chapter 11 together. Matthew chapter 17, verse 1 through 3. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophecy for twelve hundred and sixty days, forty-two months, three and one-half years, dressed in sackcloth. These witnesses are the two olive trees, and the two lampstands, which stand before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouth and devours their enemies. So if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. These two witnesses have the power from God to shut up the sky, so that no rain will fall during the days of their prophesying regarding judgment and salvation. And they have power over the waters, seas, rivers, to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they wish. Revelation chapter 11. God wanted to protect the body of Moses, so no one knows his grave to this day. Apparently, they foraged for it, as would be expected, out of a passion for marking this great leader of the nation. When Moses passed away, he had lived a life that could be neatly segmented into thirds. He had lived for one hundred and twenty years. He served as the crown prince of Egypt for forty years, then spent forty years as a simple shepherd in the desert, and finally spent forty years guiding the children of Israel to their destination in the promised land. The first two thirds served as a foundation for the final third's content and activities. Moses was willing to allow God to mold him over a period of eighty years. This proved that the observation made in Deuteronomy chapter 31 verse 1 was correct, because neither his eyes nor his natural vigor had diminished. The children of Israel shed tears, but eventually the period of mourning and lamentation over Moses' death ended. The days of mourning for Moses, which was of such great importance, came to an end. It was time to move on to other things. The program that God had in mind did not come to an end with Moses, nor did it come to an end with any man. The baton has been handed off, and the work of God will continue. The Legacy of Moses. Deuteronomy chapter 34 verse 9. Now Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the children of Israel heeded him, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. We read, For Moses had laid his hands on him. Moses' prayer for Joshua was answered. Joshua was, without a doubt, overflowing with the spirit of wisdom. The children of Israel, to their credit, paid attention to him. The true litmus test of a leader is whether or not other people actually follow their lead. The Unique Legacy of Moses. Deuteronomy chapter 34 verse 10 through 12. Since that time, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, none equal to him, in all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all his land, and in all the mighty power, and all the great and terrible deeds which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel. Joshua was a capable leader for Israel, and God's work continued, but that did not diminish Moses' unique legacy in any way. Since then, there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses. We read, Since then, there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses. Several things made Moses unique. We read, whom the Lord knew face to face. The phrase, face to face, does not mean that two people will actually come into direct physical contact with one another. Rather, it connotes communication that is open and unrestricted. Moses enjoyed an unusually close relationship with God throughout his life. We read, all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do. Moses held a special place in history due to the extraordinary number and variety of miraculous feats that were attributed to him. As it is written, all that mighty power, and all the great terror which Moses performed, we learn that Moses was unparalleled in the power and authority with which he led the people of Israel. We are told that there has not been another prophet like Moses to arise in Israel since that time. However, there have been great rulers of Israel, as well as leaders, prophets, and priests. But before the arrival of Jesus Christ, who is known as the Messiah, there was never another man who held all offices in such a glorious manner as Moses did. In him were concentrated all the great offices of Israel, prophet, ruler, judge, and priest. If some who held these offices were great, Moses was the greatest of them all. Thompson